New Sense Of Relief
by Silvarius
Summary: Post ep to Blind Spot. Bobby and Alex have a chat in the hospital room. Done many times before, but this is my version. BA.


Written after the episode Blind Spot. Kind of sappy but I tried not to go over the top. Since I just got the internet back I can finally post this, even though the episode aired a while ago. Well, let me know what you think.

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Staring down at her sleeping form on the hospital bed, Bobby felt relief. The relief that she was safe and relief that the killer had been caught; more so at the fact that Eames was still alive. He was afraid that he had lost her for good. When they opened that car trunk, Bobby's heart hit rock bottom, a sense of horror struck him. Until they saw that it wasn't her, he prepared for the worst. He knew he should show some grief at the dead person whose body it was but all he could do was worry about Eames.

Taking her hand and holding it in his own, he could feel her heartbeat going strong, reassuring him that she was indeed alive, that she was here with him now. The bandages showed that her journey was rough. Bobby wished he could have prevented her from going through this hell. The hell they both went through . . . for Eames it was a physical and mental hell, for Bobby it was an emotional hell.

With his other hand, he caressed her cheek, mindful of her injuries. It was hard to imagine what she went through. He could only go by what they saw at the site. To actually experience it would be torturous, like Eames experience.

Torture. That word cut through him like a knife. He looked down at Eames again, looked at how she had suffered. Besides the physical injuries, there were mental ones too. He had noticed how she flinched when the curtain was drawn. The bond that they shared allowed him to feel her pain, her fear, and her strength. A thought occurred to him. If their bond was so strong, why couldn't he sense when she first disappeared? Why did it take a text message to alert him? If he had sensed something was going to happen, he could have prevented it, or he could have helped her sooner. She didn't have to go through what she did, because it was all his fault.

"Bobby, it's not your fault." Eames whispered, causing Bobby to jump.

"I didn't mean to wake you. Sorry." The guilt was evident in his voice. He refused to meet her eyes.

"You were crushing my hand. That's how I could tell what you were thinking. Now, stop it."

Bobby realized that he was still holding her hand. He completely forgot about it. A rosy color of embarrassment tinged his cheeks. "Sorry, I didn't—"

Eames interrupted, "If you apologize one more time, I swear I'll smack you."

"I don't doubt that," he laughed.

The room became silent until Eames spoke up. "Aren't you going to explain to me what's going on and why you're blaming yourself?" Though still quiet, her tone had become more serious.

Bobby got up and walked over to the window, breaking their physical link. Taking a deep breath, he started on the speech he had been working on for a while, "We caught the murderer. It was Jo. She started copycatting Sebastian just to get her father's attention, but then she found out that I had caught the case. She kidnapped you to distract me. She was jealous of the attention Declan was giving me and not her."

"Wait. Jo? She did this?"

"Yeah." He didn't really want to go into too many details explaining why for fear it would upset Eames. That and he didn't want to for fear it would upset himself.

"So that's why she never spoke. She was afraid I would be able to tell that my kidnapper was a woman."

Bobby nodded, his back still towards her.

She continued, "Point aside, that still doesn't explain why you're blaming yourself."

Leaning his head against the window, Bobby closed his eyes. This was the tough part. It was something that had to be done though. Better that he tell her now rather than have her find out when she came back to work. She would really hate him if he did that. "You don't get it, do you Eames? Jo saw something there. She knew that by eliminating you from the equation, I wouldn't be able to—to do my job."

"Bobby . . . " He held up his hand to cut her off.

"I'm tired of people using you just to get to me. This is the second time it's happened. Remember the Judge Garrett case? Well, I'm not going to let it happen anymore." His voice broke. "That's why I think you would be better off with a—a new partner."

The silence that followed was deafening. It seemed like an eternity, an eternity of listening to machines beep and people talking outside the room. Bobby swore he could hear Eames's heart shatter into a million pieces. The pain to him was unbearable. After thinking it through for a while, he saw it was his only choice. Although, when he rehearsed what he was going to say, he didn't predict that there would be so much pain.

"The captain didn't put you up to this, did he?" Eames voice was like a serrated knife, stabbing him with every word.

"No. I just didn't want to see you get hurt because of me anymore. This time you survived. Next time you might not be so lucky. You could have—"

Bobby turned to face her, seeing the tears that were freefalling down her face, stopping himself in mid sentence. He wanted to go over to comfort her, but he had just severed their relationship, forcing him to keep his distance.

When Eames spoke again, her voice had hardened. "You're willing to throw away 6 years of a friendship just because you're afraid that I'll be killed over it? If I wasn't up to accepting the challenge, I wouldn't have stuck around. Bobby, for once in your life, think about what's happening now and not what's going to happen."

"I am. I'm thinking about what I see before me, a woman I care about laying in a hospital bed, recovering from injuries caused by her connection to me. Face it Eames, if the roles were reversed, you would be doing the same thing right now."

"No I wouldn't. Why would I want to destroy what we've built? Don't assume something you'll never understand."

Tears were stinging Bobby's eyes. She was right, as always. Their bond was too strong to just let go all of a sudden like that. He remembered one day when Eames was on the stand testifying in court over a letter she wrote a long time ago. He remembered the hurt in her eyes when she had to read what was on that letter. That letter showed how she had been willing to destroy their partnership right from the start because she couldn't accept her new partner for who he was. So why couldn't he do the same now? In the back of his mind, he realized the answer was simple, because times had changed. Their earlier animosity had turned to a deep understanding of each other.

"What is it that I'll never understand?"

It seemed like Eames was struggling to come up with an answer, "You'll never understand that I care about you and I refuse to give up on you. In all the years that we've worked together, I'm amazed it never dawned on you."

A lone tear broke free from his eye. "I'd be lying if I said I didn't feel the same. That's my point though; it's not worth it if all it's going to cause is hurt. You're simply better off by giving up and moving on."

Eames gestured, "Bobby, come here." When he walked back over to her and sat down, she took his hand. "Listen to me, what happened is not your fault. I don't know where you're getting this idea. It didn't happen simply because we're partners, it happened because someone found your blind spot. The fact that you cared is what caused this. In no way is it your fault, and I'll be damned if I'm going to let you give up our partnership over it." She gave his hand a gentle squeeze.

"You—you don't . . . " Bobby cursed his speech abilities which seemed to go out the window.

"No, I don't. Just let it go, Bobby. It's over with. Put it behind you. We'll move on, together."

Before he had a chance to think about it, Bobby had her enveloped in a gentle hug. Her head was pressed against his chest, drying her tear-stained face in his shirt. The huge wave of guilt he had been harboring suddenly left him as easily as it came.

"Thank you." It was all he could manage to say. Another tear fell from his face and landed on Eames's head. He kissed where it landed, making her pull her head away from where it was resting to look up at him. With a small smile, he leaned down and kissed her on the lips. The look on her face made him laugh.

"I guess a 'you're welcome' wouldn't cut it, huh?"

Eames humor was back, giving Bobby a new sense of relief. That was a sure sign that everything was going to be alright. Maybe she was right, they would move on from all of this, but not by themselves. They would do it together.

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Please read and review. Thanks.

- Silvarius


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